


I can go anywhere I want, just not home

by Clace7



Series: Random Woso One-shots [1]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26306527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clace7/pseuds/Clace7
Summary: An insider look on Pernille's transfer to Chelsea. Includes secretly going to London, the article that spoiled the news, and finally making the deal official.
Relationships: Pernille Harder/Magdalena Eriksson
Series: Random Woso One-shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911358
Kudos: 52





	I can go anywhere I want, just not home

Pernille Harder stares out of the plane window. Her deep blue eyes gaze out at the ever-approaching familiar London skyline. She has made this trip many times before. Early mornings and late nights flying to see Magda, her girlfriend, even if it was only for 24 hours. It almost feels surreal this time. Like she can’t believe she’s flying to London for any other reason than to see Magda. The moment she steps off this plane it’s going to be as if all her dreams are coming true. Just a few days ago she was still in Wolfsburg getting ready for the Champions League, preparing to go to the teams week-long training camp in Harsewinkel. But last-minute testing had to be done before her move to Chelsea could be secured and Wolfsburg wanted the testing done before the Champions League, so here she is on a last-minute flight. 

Yes, she is moving to Chelsea, something the Dane never thought would happen. After having to do long distance between London and Wolfsburg or Linköping and Wolfsburg for the last three and a half years, the couple was aching to be able to live together or at least in the same country. 

While Pernille still had a year left on her contract with Wolfsburg she decided that she would have her agent put her name out there and see if any teams were interested. She knew her transfer fee was going to be high and most teams couldn’t afford to pay it. Plus Wolfsburg didn’t want to let their star player go. It took a lot out of Pernille to convince Wolfsburg to let her go if they were offered the right price. At this point, Pernille was unhappy at the club. There was nothing left for her to win in Germany. She had already won the league and the cup, four times. She had been the top goalscorer twice. Pernille needed a new challenge and she needed her girlfriend. Luckily for her Wolfsburg was able to see her as a human and saw how much her mental state was suffering by being stuck there so they let her go.

She was just hoping one team in England, preferably a London based team though, would be interested, and boy was she lucky. Not only is the team in London, but the team is also Chelsea, who Magda plays for. So not only is she going to get to live with her girlfriend again, she is going to get to play with her girlfriend again. Just the thought of being on the pitch with Magda puts a huge smile on her face. But not only does Chelsea have Magda they also have a team that is vying to win the Champions League next year, something Pernille has never won. She has been to the finals and lost with Wolfsburg back in 2018. As well as this year she thinks her team has a great shot at winning or at least making it to the finals. 

“Everyone needs to put on their seatbelts as we will be landing shortly,” the flight attendant announces throughout the almost empty plane as not many people are traveling while corona is still a threat. 

Pernille can’t get off the plane faster. The prospect of seeing Magda fuels her even though they saw each other only two weeks ago when Pernille had time off because the Frauen Bundesliga season ended. Magda is only picking her up because Chelsea didn’t want signs that would potentially give away the transfer as it is not supposed to go public until after the Champions League. If anyone saw her they would think she is just visiting Magda for personal reasons and not that she was moving clubs. 

Once she has stepped off the plane into the surprisingly busy Heathrow airport, she quickly makes her way out of the terminal where she knows Magda will be waiting with her car. Pernille only brought a small carryon bag as she is only staying for the night before she flies straight to the training camp the next morning where her luggage is waiting for her as Wolfsburg brought it with them. 

As she exits the huge glass sliding doors she sees the ever-familiar blonde hair and striking green eyes of Magda standing right outside the exit wearing one of Pernille’s personal favorite sweatshirts looking flawlessly as ever. In Magda’s hands is a bouquet of roses and even though they’ve been together for six years now Pernille still greatly appreciates the little things that Magda does for her.

“Babe, you didn’t have to get me flowers,” Pernille says as she approaches her girlfriend pulling her in for a much-needed hug. 

“But I wanted to. It feels nice to spoil you sometimes,” Magda replies her eyes shining as she leans in for a kiss. 

Pernille sighs as their lips touch for the first time in two weeks. Her body relaxes into the embrace of Magda and warmth is spread throughout filling her with happiness. 

Reluctantly the couple breaks apart as they know that they have to get Pernille to Chelsea as soon as possible so she can get her tests done. Magda, being the gentlewoman that she is, grabs Pernille’s bag from her and opens her door for her. Pernille gives her another quick kiss of appreciation but really it is because she just wants an excuse to kiss her again. 

Once she arrives at Chelsea she is quickly and quietly whisked away to ensure that no one knows she is there. The first test Chelsea wants to do is a laktet test or that’s what they call it in Germany anyways. She’s not quite sure what the word in English is. Lactate she thinks it’s called but she’s not sure. It’s the one test where you run for a certain amount of time and then they draw blood. Then they up the speed you run at and you keep doing this until you have over a certain amount of lactate in your blood. It is honestly one of the worst things she has to experience as a football player, leaving one’s legs like jello in the end. 

Now that all of the testing is done Pernille sludges to Magda’s car where her girlfriend is waiting.

“How was the testing?” Magda asks as she makes her way into the car. 

“Dreadful,” Pernille replies a groan admitting itself from her mouth as her body sinks into the comfortable leather seat.

“Well let’s go home and I’ll make that Asian shrimp salad that you love so much.”

Home. Pernille starts to tear up at the mention of home. She has never thought of Magda’s London apartment as home. It has always been the London apartment or Magda’s apartment, but never home. Home used to be Denmark, where she grew up. But after moving to play for Linköping in Sweden it quickly became home as she met Magda and they fell in love. That little apartment in Sweden holds so many amazing memories. After Linköping, Wolfsburg quickly became home: she loved playing there, she had so many friends. But this past year Wolfsburg has no longer felt like home. Home is now wherever Magda is and that’s London.

“Baby, why are you crying?” Magda asks, worried that something was wrong. 

“Just hearing you call the apartment in London home really hit me hard. I can’t believe we are actually doing this.” 

“Well believe me we are and it’s going to be the best part of our lives,” Magda replies, using her free hand to reach over the console to wipe away the Dane’s tears and then grabs a hold of Pernille’s hand settling their joined hands in between the two seats. 

The Wolfsburg car pulls up outside the hotel where the rest of the team is staying for this camp. Pernille left London fairly early in the morning but this time with a smile on her face rather than the normal tears as this is not a goodbye, it is a see you soon. 

She had missed yesterday and today’s trainings, so she is sure there are going to be a lot of questions from her teammates. If the ten messages from Frido, six from Ingrid, and four missed calls from each of them is any indication of how worried her friends are. The only people who know about the move to Chelsea are some staff at Chelsea, some staff at Wolfsburg, and Magda and Pernille’s families. It hurt a lot knowing she wasn’t allowed to tell her teammates until after the Champions League especially Ingrid and Frido who were her closest friends at the club. The coaches had agreed to tell the team that she had a personal emergency and she would be joining the team shortly. 

The team is just chilling in the hotel when she arrives as they had already had their training sessions earlier in the day. The room fell silent as she walked in the door and all eyes turned on her. A very uncomfortable feeling settled across the room and while these people were her teammates she can’t but feel as though she is being judged. 

“Um hi guys. As you probably heard from the coaches I had a personal emergency and that’s why I had to miss the first two days of training. Everything is ok and I’m ready to focus completely on this team. So let’s win the damn Champions League,” Pernille announces while rubbing her sweaty hands on her pants. A stutter almost forces its way out of her mouth but she swallows it back down. 

Frido flashes Pernille her signature smile that shows off her dimples which eases Pernille’s mind a little bit. Ingrid offers a thumbs up to show Pernille that her message was well received. The rest of the team just kind of nods at their captain before turning back to their previous conversations. 

Pernille has been given her own room for this camp as they have an odd number and she was going to be arriving late anyways. Grabbing her room key from the coach, she starts to make her way to her room so she can unpack her stuff. 

Just as the elevator doors are about close Alexandra Popp, German international and Pernille’s co-captain steps on. The air in the room immediately turns cold and shiver makes its way down Pernille’s spine leaving goosebumps in its wake. Alex has look on her face that screams bloody murder. One that is filled with hate and jealousy. 

“I don’t care that you had a personal emergency. If I was the coach there would be some sort of punishment, maybe taking away your captaincy. Who shows up to training camp two days late? It is very unprofessional and as your co-captain, it is my duty to call you out when you are not setting an example on this team,” Alex says her voice raised and her eyes fuming. 

“I know that having to miss out on training is not very professional of me nor is it setting a good example, but I honestly had something that had to be taken care of and there was no way around it. I can assure you that my whole focus from now on is going to be on winning us a Champions League,” Pernille calmly replies as the elevator doors open and she walks out as fast as she can. 

Sure it is no secret that Alex has always been a bit jealous of Pernille as Alex was the star of the team and was the only captain until Pernille came along, but it still didn’t make her words hurt any less. She never wanted the team to feel as though she didn’t appreciate them and didn’t take this seriously. Hoping by tomorrow that the whole thing will be forgotten about, Pernille lets out a sigh as she unlocks her door.

Needing to talk out what just happened to her, she did what any normal person would and she facetimed Magda. 

“Hey, I’m surprised you're calling me. Not that I’m complaining though. I would never complain about seeing that gorgeous face,” Magda complements her. 

Pernille blushes a little at the compliment before replying “Popp just cornered me in the elevator and basically told me she thought I shouldn’t be captain.”

“What? That is not ok!” Madga yells outraged through the phone throwing her hands up wildly. “She has no right to say that to you. Let me at her. I’ll put her in her place.”

Pernille lets out a little chuckle at Magda’s attempt to seem tough. “Think about it though if I was in her position I would be a little upset too. I just wish I could tell everyone the real reason why. It would make my life so much easier.”

The room seems to turn a dark shade of blue as the mood in the room turns sad again. Pernille’s eyes look everywhere except at Magda trying to avoid her gaze as she knows the tears will start falling as soon as they lock eyes. 

A knock on the door pulls Pernille from her thoughts and forces her tears back up. 

“Hey I love you and everything is going to be ok. I promise,” Magda softly says in that raspy voice that Pernille loves so much. 

“I know. I love you too,” Pernille sighs as she ends her facetime call and goes to see who’s at her door. 

Swinging the door open, she sees that it is a worried Ingrid and Frido on the other side. 

“Can we come in?” Frido cautiously asks. 

“Yeah, sure,” Pernille responds, leading them into her hotel room. 

“First off we just wanted to make sure everything was ok. Like did something happen to your family? Is Magda ok?” Frido blurts out unable to contain her concern. 

“Yeah, my family is fine. Magda is ok. Plus you know you would be one of the first people Magda would call if she wasn’t.” 

“Well, what happened then?” Ingrid asks. 

Pernille sighs not wanting to have to lie to them anymore. “I was in London. Visiting Magda. You know how hard it’s been this past year for me to be apart from her and Ingrid you especially know how hard it is to do a long-distance relationship between two footballers who play in different countries. My head just wasn’t in the right space to be going into the Champions League so the coach said I could go visit Magda for the day to get my mind on the right track.” 

It wasn’t a total lie. Sure she missed Magda and her head might not have been in the best place. Plus seeing Magda did really help her feel as though she is ready for the Champions League but still the real reason was that she was transferring to Chelsea. 

“Yeah, I know how you feel. It gets harder and harder every day to be away from Marie for so long but I can’t even imagine what it must be like for you. Marie and I have only been together for about a year and a half, you guys have been together for six. I can’t picture having to go through that. Plus I get to see Marie at national team camps you guys don’t,” Ingrid replies a sad look crossing her face as she thinks about her girlfriend who is all the way back home in Norway right now. 

“Just know that if you ever feel like that again don’t hesitate to tell us. I know we can’t replace Magda but we can try,” Frido promises. 

Pernille pulls her friends in for a hug thankful to have people like them in her life. 

“So what did Marie do this time?” Pernille asks ready to catch up on all the gossip she missed. 

Wolfsburg had done it, they had made it all the way to the Champions League final. They comfortably won 9-1 against Glasgow city Pernille scoring four of the nine goals and Ingrid scoring two. The game against Barcelona was a hard-fought one though with Frido scoring the lone goal late in the game. It is the day before Pernille will play one of the most important games of her life, hopefully breaking Lyon’s winning streak. Wolfsburg always seems to be knocked out of this tournament by Lyon and Pernille was determined to make sure that didn’t happen this time. 

She had watched Chelsea’s community shield game earlier today and already had her last training session with the team although they didn’t know that. She is quite sad about it being her last as she has given so much to this team over the last four years, but luckily seeing her girl win another trophy is enough to put a smile on her face so the team didn’t question anything. 

Pernille is just chilling in her hotel room recovering and going over some tactics for tomorrow's big game when she hears a knock at the door. Opening the door, she is met with a crying Ingrid Engen. The Norwegian has red eyes, tear-stained cheeks, and her normally flawless outfit looks rumbled. Pernille is quick to pull the younger midfielder into her room and into her arms hoping to provide some sort of comfort for whatever had made the young girl cry. 

“Is it true?” Ingrid manages to get out in between sobs that rack her body. 

“Is what true?” Pernille asks, very confused. 

“You, going to Chelsea. Is it true?’ 

“Where’d you hear that?” 

“Sportbuzzer just released an article saying you’re leaving after the Champions League and this would make you the most expensive player in women’s football history,” Ingrid says as more tears form in her eyes. 

“Let me get Frido in here and then I will explain everything,” Pernille responds, pulling out her phone to text Frido and let her know to come to the room. 

A new knock is heard at the door and Pernille knows that it must be Frido. Frido freezes once she enters the room upon seeing Ingrid’s broken down appearance. 

“Oh my god, Ingrid are you ok?” Frido runs to her friend wanting to comfort her. 

“Ok well now that you both are here. I need to tell you something. Ingrid found an article about me transferring to Chelsea and I will let you know it is true. I have sworn to Chelsea and Wolfsburg that I will keep it a secret until after the Champions League so please don’t tell anyone else because I could get in trouble. I am planning to announce it to the rest of the team tomorrow after the final.” 

“You-you're leaving me. Who am I supposed to look up to now? You’ve been like my mentor ever since I’ve arrived here. My game has improved so much because of you,” Ingrid wails tears threatening to fall again. 

“This is for Magda isn’t it,” Frido nods understandingly having heard from both of her friends how hard it has been for them. 

Gone was the carefree couple who just radiated love from when she knew them in Linköping. Frido watched as they fell in love. She knew way before either of them did. It was the longing stares when one thought the other wasn’t looking. It was the way Magda was way more concerned when Pernille went down on the pitch than when Frido did even though Frido and Magda had been friends for years before either of them had met Pernille. Frido remembers like it was yesterday when Pernille confided in her and finally admitted that she had feelings for Magda. She remembers convincing the forward that Magda clearly liked her back. Honestly, the couple should just thank her for getting them together. 

“I’m going to miss you like shit but I couldn’t be happier for you,” Frido says knowing exactly how much it means to the couple. “I guess I’ll have to make a lot of trips to London then.” 

“I mean you’re always welcome, you know that,” Pernille replies, pulling both her friends in for a long and much-needed group hug. 

It’s as if a weight has been lifted off Pernille’s chest as she stands in her friends’ comforting embrace. The trio stands there hugging feeling grateful for these last moments they are going to spend as teammates. 

Ingrid finally breaks the silence “We have to win now. There’s no way I’m not letting you go out on a win.” 

“Yeah, we’ll make sure of it,” Frido adds. 

Pernille is back on a plane making the journey for the last time looking outside at the London skyline. Wolfsburg had lost in the final to Lyon. Not the way she wanted to go out but that’s the way life goes sometimes. Telling the team didn’t go nearly as smoothly as she thought it would as some of the team felt as though she was betraying them by leaving. There were quite a few tears shed on Sunday. Monday was spent back in Wolfsburg packing up the last of her stuff and now it’s Tuesday. 

When she steps off the plane she feels like a new person. There is an energy about her that she hasn’t felt in years. Excitement boils under her skin as she makes her way through Heathrow airport to the same place she was only four weeks ago. Only this time Magda isn’t the only one to greet her. Pernille’s mom, dad, and sister had all made the trip from Denmark to London to watch her make it official. 

Instead of roses like last time Magda has picked up a while lily that Pernille finds absolutely breathtaking. After hugging her mom, dad, and sister, Pernille greets Magda in a kiss. One that makes her insides feel as though they are on fire. One that means everything in that moment. One that she is sure she will never forget. 

Reluctantly Pernille pulls away as her family is right there. Accepting the lilies from Magda, the group makes their way to the car Chelsea has to take them to the club. Pernille puts on some light make up in the car ride over as she knows she will be rushed to take photos. 

Emma Hayes, the manager, is there to greet them as the car pulls up. She pulls Pernille in for a hug before leading the group down the hall where the contract will officially be signed and all the photos will be taken. 

Once Pernille has changed into her new Chelsea tracksuit she finally gets to sign the papers and make it official. Joy spreads across her face as the pen meets the paper for the first time. The ink is a classic Chelsea blue and it stands out on a page of black words. Cameras flash as they try to get the exact right photo. 

Pernille takes some with her family and some with Emma. They do a bunch of promo around the stadium and Pernille does a couple of interviews. While none of it is exactly boring per se, Pernille just wants to be alone with Magda. Magda has been here the whole time following her around the club smiling and giving her sweet words of encouragement with every photo. 

“That’s a wrap,” the photographer announces, starting to pack up his equipment.

Pernille thanks all the people at the club as fast as possible not wanting to wait another moment. Her family had left a little while ago and were already at their hotel for the night. They would be on the first flight back to Denmark tomorrow. 

They arrive at Magda’s car and Pernille leans over the console softly taking her girlfriend’s cheek in her hand gazing into the sparkling green eyes that shine with so much pride. The pair stare like that for a few seconds before Pernille can no longer take it and pulls her in for a soft kiss. One full of all the emotions they have been feeling all day. Magda tangles her hands in Pernille’s hair pulling her as close as one can in a car. 

Pernille eventually pulls away breathless with a flushed face. Everywhere Magda has touched tingles and it makes her feel like a young girl having her first kiss with Magda all those years ago. 

“Let’s go home,” Magda breaths out starting the car. 

“Yes, let’s go home,” Pernille smiles knowing this is exactly where she is supposed to be in life.

**Author's Note:**

> AHHH I can't believe that it has actually happened. I am so happy for Pernille and Magda. Both of them look so happy now. Even though I am an Arsenal fan I can say I will be watching a lot more Chelsea matches now that they have both of them.


End file.
